BU Prof Unlocks a Business Algorithm
Boston University (06/13/08) Daniloff, Caleb
Boston University professor Shanghua Teng and Yale University professor
Daniel Spielman will receive ACM's Godel Prize at the International
Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP), awarded by
ACM's Special Interest Group on Algorithms and Computing Theory and the
European Association for Theoretical Computer Science. The $5,000 award is
given for outstanding papers in theoretical science. Teng and Spielman are
being recognized for their 2004 paper in the Journal of the ACM titled
"Smoothed Analysis of Algorithms: Why the Simplex Algorithm Usually Takes
Polynomial Time." The paper explains why a common algorithm, used to solve
efficiency problems in fields ranging from airlines to online games,
functions so well, particularly in business. The simplex algorithm,
developed in 1947 by George Dantzig, has practical applications in almost
all areas of business, including advertising, distribution, pricing,
production planning, and transportation. The simplex algorithm is designed
to find a solution in a reasonable amount of time, but scientists have been
able to create worst-case scenarios by introducing abnormalities that cause
the algorithm's running time to grow exponentially, creating a situation
where it could take virtually forever to find a solution. Smoothed
analysis gives an explanation for why the simplex method behaves so well in
practice despite the danger of its worst-case complexity. Teng's and
Spielman's work also represents an advance in predicting the performance of
algorithms and heuristics.
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U.S. Still Leads the World in Science and Technology;
Nation Benefits From Foreign Scientists, Engineers, RAND Study Finds
AScribe Newswire (06/11/08)
Despite perceptions that the United States is losing its competitive edge,
it remains the dominant leader in science and technology, concludes a new
RAND Corporation report. The United States accounts for 40 percent of the
world's spending on scientific research and development, employs 70 percent
of the world's Nobel Prize winners, and is home to three-quarters of the
world's top 40 universities, the report says. The flow of foreign students
studying sciences, and foreign scientists and engineers, has helped the
United States build and maintain its worldwide lead, even as other nations
increase research and development spending. The study says that continuing
the flow of foreign-born talent is critical to the United States keeping
its lead. "Much of the concern about the United States losing its edge as
the world's leader in science and technology appears to be unfounded," says
report co-author Titus Galama. "But the United States cannot afford to be
complacent. Effort is needed to make sure the nation maintains or even
extends its standing." Although China has invested heavily in research and
development, the majority of world innovation and scientific output is
still dominated by the United States, Europe, and Japan, say RAND
researchers. However, other nations are rapidly educating their
populations in science and technology, with the European Union and China
graduating more scientists and engineers every year than the United States.
The report suggests establishing a chartered body to periodically monitor
and analyze U.S. science and technology performance and the condition of
the nation's science and engineering workforce, and making it easier for
foreigners with U.S. university degrees in science and engineering to stay
indefinitely in the United States and for highly skilled labor to immigrate
to the United States.
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Optical Network Is Key to Next-Generation Research
Cyberinfrastructure
California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology
(06/11/08)
Larry Smarr, director of the California Institute for Telecommunications
and Information Technology, announced at the TeraGrid '08 Conference that
the use of remote high performance computers for scientific advancement is
on the cusp of a revolution thanks to the establishment of state, regional,
national, and global optical networks. He says the National Science
Foundation-funded OptIPuter project can help remove the last obstruction to
this revolution. "The ... project has been exploring for six years how
user-controlled, wide-area, high-bandwidth lightpaths--termed lambdas--on
fiber optics can provide direct uncongested access to global data
repositories, scientific instruments and high performance computational
resources from the researchers' Linux clusters in their campus
laboratories," Smarr says. "This research is now being rapidly adopted
because universities are beginning to acquire lambda access through state
or regional optical networks interconnected with the National LambdaRail,
the Internet2 Dynamic Circuit Network, and the Global Lambda Integrated
Facility." The OptIPuter employs dedicated lightpaths to form end-to-end
uncongested 1 Gbps or 10 Gbps Internet protocol (IP) networks, and its
network infrastructure and supporting software boasts high bandwidth,
security, lower cost per unit bandwidth, and controlled performance. The
critical bottleneck is most campuses' failure to install the optical fiber
paths needed to link from the regional optical network campus gateway to
the end user. Smarr is a participant in Quartzite, an experiment at the
University of California, San Diego to produce a switching complex capable
of switching packets, wavelengths, or entire fiber paths to facilitate
rapid configuration, under software control, of the different types of
network layouts and capabilities needed by the end user. "Quartzite
provides the 'golden spike' which allows completion of end-to-end 10 Gbps
lightpaths running from TeraGrid sites to the remote user's lab," Smarr
says.
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IBM's Answer to IT Skills Crunch: Woo Students
Network World (06/13/08) Cox, John
IBM is releasing a set of Web-based tools and resources to help college
students refine their marketable skills for the fastest-growing IT job
opportunities. IBM will add a section to its Academic Initiative program
Web site that will include tutorials, games, skills assessments, and online
forums designed to supplement and be incorporated into regular college and
university courses. "The information system--the hardware and software
and networking 'complex'--is what's driving the services-oriented
businesses," says IBM Academic Initiative director Kevin Faughnan. "They
need young workers who have the skills to continue innovating." Companies
can no longer afford the lengthy and costly internal training programs that
have been a standard in the industry, Faughnan says, and young workers need
to enter new jobs with the skills they will need already in place. He also
says the nature of these skills and the role they play in the developing
global economy means that IT skills are no longer limited to IT
professionals. Consequently, IBM's outreach efforts extend beyond computer
science departments to include such fields as marketing, accounting,
security, and business process reengineering. For example, Brandeis
University is using IBM's 3D video game Innov8 as a tool for teaching
business process management. Many of the new student resources are focused
on emerging skills that are in high demand, particularly Web services, Web
application development, database skills, and open source programming.
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'Saucy' Software Updates Finds Symmetries Dramatically
Faster
University of Michigan News Service (06/10/08) Moore, Nicole Casal
University of Michigan computer scientists have developed open-source
software that reduces the time it takes to find symmetries in complicated
equations from days to a few seconds. Finding symmetries can reveal
shortcuts to answers that, for example, verify the safety of train
schedules, find bugs in software and hardware designs, or improve common
search queries. The algorithm updates a program called "saucy" that the
researchers developed in 2004. The software's applications include
artificial intelligence and logistics. In complicated equations,
symmetries reveal repeated branches of the search for solutions that only
need to be solved once. Current programs that search for symmetries can
take days to find results, even if no instances are found. The new method
can finish in seconds even if there are millions of variables. An
artificial intelligence capable of recognizing symmetries could quickly
help a computer generate a plan or an optimal schedule, and the computer
would know when the order of tasks was interchangeable. The algorithm
converts a complicated equation into a graph and searches for similarities
in the arrangement of the vertices. It narrows the search while exploiting
"sparsity," or the fact that almost every node on the graph is connected to
a few other nodes. Other symmetries can be derived from sparse symmetries,
and the number of distinct symmetries can grow exponentially with the size
of the system.
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Technical Impact Award in Honor of Richard Newton's
Legacy Announced Today at Design Automation Conference
Business Wire (06/10/08)
The ACM Special Interest Group on Design Automation (ACM SIGDA) will
jointly sponsor an award honoring the late Dr. Richard Newton with the IEEE
Council on Electronic Design Automation (CEDA). The A. Richard Newton
Technical Impact Award in Electronic Design Automation will be a yearly
award that honors outstanding technical achievements in the field of
electronic design automation (EDA). An individual or individuals will be
recognized for their contributions to EDA over a significant period of
time, based on influential research published by either ACM or IEEE
nominees at least 10 years ago. Newton, a key figure in design automation
academia and industry, and dean of engineering at the University of
California at Berkeley, died last year. "Throughout his brilliant career,
Richard Newton had a wonderful capacity for creative thinking that spawned
others toward innovative thinking or new techniques that have been put into
practice," says Diana Marculescu, chair of ACM SIGDA. "We wish to keep
that essence of him alive." A call for nominations will be made in
October, and the first award will be presented at the 46th Design
Automation Conference in San Francisco in 2009.
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DOD Funds Research Into Info Sharing
Government Computer News (06/10/08) Jackson, William
The Defense Department has awarded $7.5 million to six universities to
fund a five-year research program that will work to solve the problem of
sharing sensitive information without compromising privacy or security.
University of Maryland-Baltimore County professor Tim Finin says
information sharing is complex and contains a lot of social,
organizational, and technical implications. Finin is one of the lead
researchers on the program, along with researchers from Purdue University,
the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Michigan,
the University of Texas at Dallas, and the University of Texas at San
Antonio. One area of focus will be the development of a flexible, robust
language for expressing policies about information sharing to help automate
the process. Other areas that will be addressed include personal
information in public-facing online forums such as social networking sites,
and digital rights management, which Finin says has gotten a bad reputation
because it has been approached in a heavy-handed and crude manner. The
problem of data mining while still preserving privacy will also be
researched. One of the most fundamental problems will be discovery, as
ignorance of what data other organizations have can prevent information
sharing even when policy permits it.
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Designing Microchips That Contain Multiple Selves
Rice University (06/11/08) Almond, B.J.
Rice University engineers have designed integrated circuits that can
change their function depending on the user's needs. The researchers say
the polymorphic chip technology, which was unveiled at this week's Design
Automation Conference, could be used to improve device security, content
provisioning, application metering, device optimization, and other tasks.
Rice University professor and principal project investigator Farinaz
Koushanfar says using "n-variant" integrated circuits makes it possible to
design portable media players that are inherently unique. "New methods of
digital rights management can be built upon such devices," Koushanfar says.
"For example, media files can be made such that they only run on a certain
variant and cannot be played by another." Content providers could use
n-variant chips to sell metered access to software, music, or movies
because the chips can be programmed to switch from one variant to another
at a specific time or after a file has been accessed a certain number of
times. The polymorphic chips can switch between variants based on both
external triggers and automated, self-adaptive triggers, says Rice computer
science graduate student Yousra Alkabani. Alkabani says that by switching
between variants, and designing each variant in a security-conscious way,
it will be impossible for someone to compromise the chip.
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Call for Participation: 2008 ACM Workshop on Secure Web
Services (SWS)
XML Daily Newslink (06/10/08)
Organizers of the 2008 ACM Workshop on Secure Web Services (SWS) have
issued a call for participation in exploring the security challenges of
technologies such as XML and Web services security protocols and issues
such as advanced metadata, general security policies, trust establishment,
risk management, and service assurance. Experts will have an opportunity
to present research results, discuss their practical experiences, and share
innovative ideas about Web services security. Organizers are interested in
topics such as Web services and GRID computing security; authentication and
authorization; frameworks for managing, establishing, and assessing
inter-organizational trust relationships; Web services exploitation of
Trusted Computing; Semantics-aware Web service security, and Semantic Web
Secure orchestration of Web services; and privacy and digital identities
support. SWS is scheduled for Oct. 31, in Fairfax, Va. The workshop will
be held in conjunction with the 15th ACM Conference on Computer and
Communications Security (CCS-15).
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Apple in Parallel: Turning the PC World Upside
Down?
New York Times (06/10/08) Markoff, John
Steve Jobs' presentation at the opening session of Apple's Worldwide
Developers Conference included a description of the next version of the Mac
OS X operating system, dubbed Snow Leopard, which will be designed for use
with parallel processors. Jobs says Apple will find a solution to the
problem of programming the new generation of parallel chips efficiently.
He says Apple will focus on "foundational features" that will be the basis
for a future version of the Mac operating system. At the core of Snow
Leopard will be a parallel-programming technology code-named Grand Central.
Snow Leopard will utilize the computer power inherent in graphics
processors that are now used in tandem with microprocessors in almost all
personal and mobile computers. Jobs also described a new processing
standard that Apple is proposing called Open Computing Language (OpenCL),
which is intended to refocus graphics processors on standard computing
functions. "Basically it lets you use graphics processors to do
computation," Jobs says. "It's way beyond what Nvidia or anyone else has,
and it's really simple."
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All Hail RoadRunner's Petaflop Record -- Now, What About
the Exaflop?
Computerworld (06/09/08) Thibodeau, Patrick
Now that IBM's RoadRunner supercomputer has broken the petaflop barrier,
reaching more than one thousand trillion sustained floating-point
operations per second, supercomputer developers say the next step is an
exascale system capable of a million trillion calculations per second, a
thousand times faster than a petaflop. At the upcoming International
Supercomputing Conference in Dresden, Germany, University of Tennessee
professor Jack Dongarra will give a presentation on exaflop systems in the
year 2019. Dongarra says performance gains are following a predictable
path, with the first gigaflop system being built 22 years ago. Dongarra
says there will be exaflop computing in 11 years, and that by then every
system on the Top500 computing list will be at least a petaflop. He says
the greatest achievement with the RoadRunner system is the programming that
allows the system to utilize different processor technologies. To achieve
exascale systems, Dongarra says developers will have to create new
programming languages and algorithms that can calculate at high degrees of
concurrency to complete calculations quickly. The difficulty in reaching
that level of programming, and changing to new methods, could be the
roadblock that prevents exaflop computing from being realized in a similar
timeline, he says.
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Tell Me By the Way I Walk
EurekAlert (06/09/08)
Researchers in India are developing a form of biometrics that could allow
law enforcement and security agencies to recognize suspects based on how
they walk. C. Nandini of the Vidya Vikas Institute of Engineering &
Technology and C.N. Ravi Kumar from the S.J. College of Engineering in
Mysore, India, say that when viewed from the side, everyone has a
recognizable and unique gait. The researchers say a camera with a side
view could capture a set of key frames, or stances, as an individual walks
to a security desk at an airport, military installation, or bank, for
example. Key frames from an individual's complete walk cycle can be
converted into silhouette form and analyzed using so-called Shannon
entropy, height measurements, and the periodicity of the gait used to
classify the person's gait. The recorded gait can be compared to a
database, and the data could be used to track suspected terrorists or
criminals. The researchers say gait recognition has a significant
advantage over more well-known biometrics such as fingerprinting and iris
scanning because it is unobtrusive and can be used to identify an
individual from a considerable distance.
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Supercomputers Crank Up in Three Japanese Universities in
Collaborative Pursuits
Campus Technology (06/06/08) Schaffhauser, Dian
Japan's University of Tokyo, University of Tsukuba, and Kyoto University
have new supercomputers that use open-source hardware and system software.
The universities launched the T2K Open Supercomputer Alliance in July 2006,
and they jointly developed common specifications for the supercomputers
because they intend to use the machines collaboratively. Tokyo's
supercomputer has a theoretical peak performance of approximately 140
teraflops, which would make it the fastest supercomputer in the nation.
Tsukuba's machine has a theoretical peak performance of about 95 tflops,
while Kyoto's supercomputer has a theoretical peak performance of about 61
tflops. The universities will use the supercomputers for researching
subatomic particles, nuclear energy, and astronomy; and for performing
scientific calculations for climate modeling, weather forecasting, and
genetics and biomedical research.
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Researchers Design Band-Aid-Size Tactile Display
PhysOrg.com (06/06/08) Zyga, Lisa
Researchers from Sungkyunkwan University in Korea and the University of
Nevada have developed a flexible tactile device that can be wrapped around
a finger like a band-aid. The display is based on soft actuator
technology, allowing it to be wrapped around almost any part of the human
body. Project coauthor Ig Mo Koo says the major advantage a wearable
tactile display has over normal tactile displays is flexibility. "When you
apply a normal device to a non-flat surface like human skin, it is
impossible to stimulate the whole skin through its shape," Koo says. "In
the case of a wearable tactile display, however, it can be applicable to
many kinds of surfaces without the limitation of stimulus area because of
its flexibility." The researchers say the display could be used for
interfaces for the visually impaired, as well as for a tactile display
cloth, a virtual reality keyboard, a tele-surgical glove, or a tele-feeling
transferring system. The key material in the display is an electroactive
polymer that can stimulate the skin without using any additional
electromechanical transmission. The polymer consists of eight layers of
dielectric elastomer actuator films that have been sprayed with electrodes
in a specific pattern. The device also has a protective layer to separate
the electrodes from the skin. The display sends information to the wearer
when electrodes induce a voltage across the films. Koo says the team plans
to improve display performance and develop new applications such as a
tele-feeling transferring system and a glove-type tactile display
device.
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NASA: 'Extreme Programming' Controls Mars Lander
Robot
Computerworld (06/05/08) Gaudin, Sharon
Approximately 30 NASA engineers and programmers work to write and test
1,000 to 1,500 lines of software code every day that is sent to the Mars
Lander, which is searching for elements that could support life on Mars.
Matthew Robinson, the robotic arm flight software engineer at the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, says the team writes the code sequences to run
different parts of the Phoenix spacecraft, including the robotic arm, the
cameras, and analysis equipment. A single mistake could cause the
spacecraft to sit idle for a day, wasting time that could be used to
explore Mars. "It's a challenge because we have a two- to three-day
strategic plan, and then each day that plan is refined," Robinson says.
"You have to build 20 to 30 sequences, and each can have 50 lines of code
in it." The developers use the C programming language to build their own
software for a Linux operating system, and are expected to be dealing with
such extreme programming for about three months, after which the
drastically cold temperatures on Mars will cause the Lander to freeze and
stop working. Keeping the robotic arm and the rest of the Lander running
is a huge challenge. Robinson says a 3D elevation map was recently used to
write code to make the arm reach down and touch the ground. The next day
the arm was sent instructions to scoop some soil and hold it so on-board
cameras could take pictures of it, followed by another practice scoop the
next day.
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'Herds' of Wary Cars Could Keep an Eye Out for
Thieves
New Scientist (06/05/08) Robson, David
Frostburg State University researcher Hui Song together with Pennsylvania
State University researchers have developed the Sensor-network-based
Vehicle Anti-Theft System (SVASTS), a vehicle security system that uses
networks of cars constantly communicating with each other using concealed
wireless transmitters to prevent thieves from stealing one of the cars in
the network. Song says multiple sensors hidden throughout a car would make
it difficult, if not impossible, for a thief to disable the system in a
short period of time. He says the design of the network should also
produce fewer false alarms than traditional car alarm systems. To secure a
vehicle, the driver uses a remote to switch on the transmitters, which then
work to join a network of other nearby cars. The group acts as each
others' sentinels, choosing partners that need the lowest signal strength
for communication to prevent the system from consuming too much energy.
The car continues to send and receive signals until the owner returns, at
which point its sends out a "goodbye" signal to tell the other cars it is
leaving. If the signal stops without the "goodbye" signal, the other cars
report a theft by relaying a message to a central base station. The base
station would notify nearby security guards, police officers, and the
owner. The system was tested using a small number of cars, with
researchers driving off in some cars to test SVATS response. The system
detected all such "thefts" within just four to nine seconds.
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What Is Biomimicry?
Christian Science Monitor (06/12/08) P. 13; Peter, Tom A.
Robots inspired by nature are designed to function in the real world and
survive in unpredictable environments through biomimicry, in which the
machines' movements are modeled after those of animals. "If you're
controlling a robot with a computer program, unless you've anticipated
every possible situation it's going to get into, it will eventually get
into a situation where it has no escape strategy and it will be stuck,"
says Northeastern University biology professor Joseph Ayers. "Animals
never get stuck." Whereas many autonomous machines rely on sophisticated
sensor networks and software to plot every move they take, robots designed
for biomimicry use simple mechanics to emulate the instinctive movements
and locomotion of animals. The Stickybot, modeled after the gecko, uses
the mechanical equivalent of the tiny hairs lining the lizard's feet so
that it can seamlessly climb nearly any surface. "Instead of using sensing
and control and computers, you try to build the mechanism so it does the
right thing without any of that higher-level supervision," says Harvard
University engineering professor Robert Howe, who with a graduate student,
built a robot hand capable of naturally picking up objects.
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